Thai Cauliflower Rice Salad with Peanut Butter Sauce

Spring bloomed in force over here, turning all of us upside down. All of a sudden, the temperature raised from 0 to 13 degrees, the lilac bushes got tiny green sprouts, and the parks got crowded. After such a long time without seeing the face of the sun, its first rays put me in the mood to plan for holidays. No, we’re not going to Thailand yet (although I’d love to), but I’m celebrating the beginning of spring with colors, in my kitchen.

In my family, cauliflower was far from being popular. We only ate it gratin from time to time, and I pretty much hated it. Last year, I decided to give cauliflower another chance, and roasting it was one of my bigger revelations. Ever since, I add it to salads, patties, or curries, but this time, I thought I’d do something really different. I first saw the cauliflower rice idea at Oh My Veggies and I found it genius, especially because I’m on a vegan diet right now (I’m fasting until Easter), and I try to reduce the temptation of having a high carb intake and replace as much as possible with vegetables.

When I introduced cauliflower into my diet, I also found out more about its amazing nutritional values. The humble cauliflower is no less than its popular cruciferous relatives (kale, brussels sprouts, or broccoli), and it has exceptional effects on our bodies’ health, especially when eaten raw or lightly cooked.

One of the main benefits of cauliflower is its implication in prevention of many types of cancer (bladder, breast, colon, prostate, and ovarian cancer), especially because it’s loaded with powerful antioxidants, but also for its nutrients that stimulate the natural detox function of our bodies. The glucosinolates in cauliflower activate the enzymes responsible for detoxification and regulate their activity. Some of these are metabolized into sulforaphane, a compound that prevents bacterial overgrowth of Helicobacter pylori in the stomach.

Cauliflower is loaded with vitamin C (1 cup provides about 70 percent of the daily recommended intake), a core antioxidant that helps our bodies reduce the oxidative stress in our cells, but also with a broad spectrum of other antioxidants (such as beta-carotene or quercetin) that supports our detoxification function and reduces the risk of chronic diseases like cancer.

Most of the cauliflower’s nutrients are available when we consume it raw or lightly cooked, because heat destroys nutrients like vitamin C, for instance. To obtain the cauliflower rice, you simply have to cook it for five minutes on low heat with coconut milk a safe and recommended method which preserves most of the nutrients. Cooking it lightly is also a good method to maintain a crispy texture and to get rid of the sulphur smell. The phytonutrients release this smell when heated, and the more you cook the cauliflower, the stronger the smell.

This looks absolutely amazing! I must admit, we aren’t big cauliflower lovers in our house, but I think your beautiful dish could change that 🙂
I’ll have to replace the peanut butter with almond butter though because that was my Lenten sacrifice! I can’t wait to try this gorgeous Thai twist!

Hi Ana. What a lovely recipe! I was searching for detox recipe to share with my audience for an upcoming detox challenge. The problem is my audience only french speaking people. Would you mind if i translate your recipe with a link to the original to put on my blog?

Hi there! I’m just about to make your recipe. I was wondering how long this would keep in the fridge. Do you think I should keep that scrumptious dressing and the salad ingredients seperate until serving?
Thanks so much, have a good day!

This dish is truly one of the greatest things I’ve ever eaten in a while. And that’s saying something since we experiment with a lot of amazing whole foods recipes. The mango and peanut butter sauce just pull everything together. Arguably, it takes a lot longer than the 10 minute prep time, but it was worth the effort. Thanks for sharing. Keep em coming!

Hi Ana! I already love cauliflower, and who doesn’t love a good peanut sauce, so this is right up my alley. Definitely plan to set myself up for this salad next time I’m at the grocery, I was wondering what colour onion you prefer? Is unspecified and I can’t get a good look at the photo on my stupid phone. Thanks!

I love this recipe! I’ve never used cauliflower as rice- it sounds delicious, especially paired with all the yummy ingredients you list here. Thanks so much for sharing these- and your always stunning photos. Happy New Year, Ana!

THIS IS SOOO GOOD! I just made it for dinner tonight and will definitely be making it again sometime soon! I don’t have a food processor so I just steamed the florets and then mashed them a bit before adding them to the pan, worked like a charm!

Just made this tonight and it was great! Will definitely make again. It makes a large portion that would be perfect to take to a summer BBQ. Perhaps the next time I make for just my husband and I, I’d add a spicy pepper like a Serrano or Jalepeno to spice it up a notch. However, it is spectacular as-is! Like someone else said, the 20 minute prepare time was a bit off, took close to an hour from start to finish without prepping/chopping veggies.

I thought this needed something more after I tasted it so I added a bit of sambal and that seemed to do the trick. Next time I might add a splash of fish sauce and korriander to further jazz it up! Thanks for the recipe.

Never tried sambal before, just because of the fish sauce, but a little umami sounds like a good idea! Maybe a dried tomato paste would do the trick for the vegans and vegetarians 🙂 thanks for your feedback!

I made this recipe today and liked it very much. My husband is not a fan of cauliflower but he commented on how much he liked it! Success! I used one pound of pre made cauliflower rice (half of a 2 pound bag from Costco) and made a slightly larger quantity of cabbage. Also doubled the peanut sauce ingredients and added another teaspoon of honey. Didn’t have parsley on hand but served it on a small amount of power greens. Didn’t have fresh mango (would have been wonderful), but I had some jarred mango in natural juice. Altogether it turned out very well, have enough for another meal and I was happy. I would do this recipe again. I highly recommend it. Thanks for sharing!

I honestly thought this was terrible. I tried a bunch of things to try to “fix” it and it just ended up being something we had to endure for a few days while it got eaten up.My issues: the cauliflower should be subbed for quinoa. The cauliflower turns to mush by day 2, and then it just sticks in clumps held together by the coconut milk. Using coconut milk to “cook” it is fine, but there is literally no seasoning added, and it definitely needs some. Add some salt for goodness’ sake! As for the veggies, chop them SMALL. Bell pepper, good. Green onions, good. Cabbage, great idea. Parsley? NO. Sub for cilantro and mint. Then add anything else that has crunch to it… radishes, julienned cartrots, even broccoli crowns all chopped up. It just needs more texture than what this salad offers. The almonds are great, I’d just add more. And it needs more mango too. Finally, the dressing. NO. It’s far too limey and has no dimension. It was runny like water. I know it has no oil in it, but come on. I had to doctor this up tremendously to make it palatable. I’d add some coconut aminos, some more peanut butter, a little oil, some chili garlic sauce, maybe some sambal, and make it live. Overall I thought this recipe sucked, but it could be good with some major substitutions.

This is probably the most spiteful comment I got on this blog so far. I don’t even know where to start from but let’s give it a try: 1. the salt is in the recipe, you just have to read it. 2. It’s a salad so it’s meant to be prepared and consumed fresh, why you had to make lots of it for several days, beats me! 3. With such specific tastes (add this, sub with this, double this) I find it hard to believe that you like any recipe at all. 4. If you read the comments above yours you’ll see that people enjoyed the recipe and I suspect there’s absolutely nothing wrong with them…